The construction and use of catheters and related medical devices is well known. Current technologies allow for the catheterization of arteries and veins, and allow also for the expansion of atherosclerotic plaques in an angioplasty procedure. However, these existing technologies do not allow for the delivery of drugs, especially short-acting drugs to the target area of an organ, for example the heart. In addition, the current devices which permit the delivery of drugs do not allow for the exact control of the concentration of the drug at the site of action, because the drugs are delivered systemically and because the drug delivery may tend to vary due to the flow rate and the volume of the drug(s) being passed through the catheter. Moreover, the controlled delivery of blood, fluids or a combination thereof cannot be achieved, so the control over the conditions and compositions during perfusion or reperfusion of organs and tissues cannot be exercised.
The current embodiments of catheters, as described above, allow the application of principals of modified perfusion to organs and tissues. These principals have been developed and in use over the past 10-15 years. However, the lack of a delivery technology, or in this instance, a delivery device, has impeded the clinical application of modified perfusion and reperfusion.
What is needed, therefore, is an improved catheter constructed to permit the controlled delivery of blood, or a combination of fluids, medications and blood therethrough and into the arteries, veins, organs, or tissues of a patient, and which is also suitable for use in the modified perfusion or reperfusion of the arteries, veins, organs, or tissues of a patient.